PUDUCHERRY: Pondicherry University has barred students who participated in protests against fee hike and Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) from claiming postgraduate scholarship given on the basis of merit and merit cum means for each semester.
A circular issued by K Deven, coordinator (academic) on May 22 and posted on the university website on Tuesday, restricts the award of scholarship to only those who have 70 per cent attendance and have not participated in any protest in the previous semester. Heads of Departments have been directed to ensure that these conditions are fulfilled by students before sending the list of claims.
Says Parichay Yadav, president of Pondicherry University Students’ Council, “Most students protested against fee hike and CAA and are now being denied scholarship. It is an anti-student and anti-constitutional decision by the university to punish the students for demanding a campus inclusive of economically and socially weaker section. Scholarships are meant for meritorious students and they can’t be denied the benefit only because they participated in protests.”
The council, in a representation to the university, said scholarship is among a student’s rights and protesting peacefully is a Constitutional right. As a lot of students are from economically weaker sections, they are dependent on scholarship to pay the semester fee. “The council will move the court challenging the order if it is not withdrawn,” Yadav adds.